THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503170189
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Annual Business Review
Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
CHESAPEAKE MERCHANTS, WHO saw a steady increase in sales last year, say they expect profits to be even greater this year as an influx of new retailers set up shop and attract more customers to the city.
``There's really not a reason to go elsewhere to shop,'' said City Treasurer Barbara O. Carraway. ``We've increased our diversity in shopping, and we have all types of stores.''
Retail sales for the city's merchants increased by about 13 percent last year from 1993 to reach almost $1.6 billion in sales, according to calculations from local sales tax returns.
The increase was not as great as the rise in sales from 1992 to 1993, which was a whopping 18.6 percent, but it revealed a healthy margin of growth, said Ray A. Conner, commissioner of the revenue.
Although the number of new merchants slipped slightly, Conner said, it's not a significant indication of how the city is doing economically. ``Some people who may have previously been licensed and started their businesses again with the city would not be counted as new merchants,'' he said.
What's more important is that the overall number of licensed retail merchants increased by about 14.4 percent last year to 5,253, Conner said.
``We're real pleased overall with sustaining growth, and one thing we're especially pleased with is the double-digit increase in food and beverage sales,'' he said.
One need only drive down the city's major thoroughfares to witness the boom in new chain restaurants. The latest newcomers in the Greenbrier area include Lone Star Steakhouse, Golden Corral, China Coast and Mozzarella's. To fill out the picture of Chesapeake as a chain-restaurant mecca are Pargo's, Black-Eyed Pea, Olive Garden, Kelly's Tavern, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Old Country Buffet and a slew of other eateries.
Meal and drink sales increased last year by about 12 percent and taxes paid by city restaurants have climbed from $184,371 in 1990 to $291,595 last year, according to data from Conner's office.
Schlotzsky's Deli, located in the newly developed Battlefield Marketplace, is one of several newcomers to Battlefield Boulevard.
The area's high traffic count and sprouting businesses attracted owner Mark Quinton Sr. to the location. Nearby corporate office parks help out his lunchtime business, he said. But the traffic is both a blessing and a curse, he said.
A few months ago Quinton and other businesses along the north end of Battlefield Boulevard petitioned for a left turn signal at the busy Wal-Mart Way intersection. Drivers headed north who want to turn left into shopping centers find it nearly impossible to cross with the onslaught of southbound traffic.
Quinton said he is concerned about the growing traffic congestion along the route where his shop is flanked between two large home improvement superstores, HQ and the newly opened Lowe's.
This year also saw the debut of the Hills store in Chesapeake Crossing Shopping Center. The discount chain carries a full line of women's, men's and children's apparel, bed and bath products, jewelry and toys.
And to further boost the economy in the Greenbrier area, two new large retail complexes are now in the works.
Currently under construction in the Crossway Center on Greenbrier Parkway across from Greenbrier Mall is an 80,000-square-foot mega-cinema entertainment complex.
The center that will feature a cluster of 13 screens is expected to cost between $6.8 million and $7.2 million to develop, said Greg Dunn, vice president of marketing for Regal Cinemas Inc., based in Knoxville, Tenn.
An adjacent two-story family entertainment center called ``Funscapes'' will offer a 36-hole miniature golf course, a children's play area and virtual reality games on the lower level. The upper level of the 43,000-square-foot fun center will house a video arcade and party rooms for family gatherings. A food court will connect the movie theaters and the family fun centers and developers are hailing the concept as a novel one-stop entertainment center.
Regal chose Chesapeake because it liked the demographics, the city's growth pattern and the fact that the area was under-served by its existing movie theaters, Dunn said.
Another power retail center proposed for Chesapeake is the $35 million shopping center, called Greenbrier Market, planned along the Greenbrier corridor between Volvo Parkway and Eden Way.
The center, a project of Cousins/ New Market Development Co. of Marietta, Ga., plans to bring new retailers such as Target, a discount mass-market chain that competes with Wal-Mart and K mart; Barnes & Noble and the Gap's Old Navy Clothing Co. to the area.
Construction will start on the 73-acre site this spring and the center is planned to open by next summer, said Ron Pfohl, a senior leasing representative for Cousins/New Market.
Chesapeake's Economic Development Director Donald Z. Goldberg said the retail and commercial growth has grown tremendously in the past year, creating great employment opportunities.
``It's been a pretty good year,'' he said. ``Things are coming; things are happening.'' ILLUSTRATION: Charts
Retail Sales
Source: City Treasurer
New Merchants
Source: Chesapeake Revenue Commissioner
Licensed Retail Merchants
Source: Chesapeake Revenue Commissioner
Meal & Drink Sales
Source: Chesapeake Revenue Commissioner
For copies of charts, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: RETAIL SALES
by CNB